The political bubble and how it affects your opinion

[CJD]

(07-22-2019, 05:52 PM)Dill Wrote: LOL I think everyone is still reeling from "Trump didn't tell them to go anywhere. How many times do I have to repeat myself."

You are correct the poster has difficulty with content/semantics or, let's put it this way, close reading. However, this is not always trolling, and not always meant to dismantle any kind of positive or functional discourse.  We had a true Troll here a while back; even his handle was Russian. He would post right-wing provocations, then fail to respond when people took the bait, just moving on the next. No interest in real dialogue. This isn't that.

I think that to understand why people defend Trump (while saying they are not), one has (among other things) to look very closely at what seems trolling. Hypothesis: a lot of Trump defenders have difficulty forming evidence into precise claims and deducing logically consistent conclusions from them; conversely, they have genuine difficulty recognizing when others are doing exactly that.  Evidence-based charges against Trump's behavior don't seem any different to them than rumor-based charges against Hillary or Obama. No surprise that bias-hunting so frequently substitutes for analysis in their posts. Further, in this frame, the distinction between evidence-based argument and personal attack is almost nil.  Thus criticism of Trump, for example, is not motivated primarily by evidence of what Trump does, but by his critics own "bias" and "hatred." And if it will equalize the playing field without accountability, Trump supporters are happy to grant "both sides" are biased. 

All this is to say that while our conservative friend's posts do sometimes devolve into trolling, he rarely starts with that intent. When it does occur, it is more evidence of frustration in building an effective argument and representing a minority position in this forum than incorrigible evil.  He has been a serious poster for years and ought to get the benefit of the doubt on every new thread. In my view, he is sincere when he says he sees bias in your post (despite all the care you put into balance), and sincere when he says he doesn't think Trump's recent tweets were racist.  Given that sincerity, the question for me is more about the poster's frame of reference than the poster as individual.  Where does that frame come from?  What are the features of the "bubble"--shared by millions--in which it emerges? In my view, understanding that is the key to understanding current divisions in US politics. 

But there is a liberal bubble too; second hypothesis: there are features of liberalism which make researching that key difficult. Looking for "common ground," assuming there always is such, may obscure more than it reveals. We should be just looking for grounds first, whatever they are.

I appreciate the sentiment behind the benefit of the doubt. I would be amenable to that. Maybe he's just having a bad week. I too remember him as a serious poster prior to the Trump Racism tweets. I could see trying to find a way to defend Trump making you go a little crazy.

I'll keep an eye on his posts and keep an open mind.

But make no mistake. Responding to my attempt at a thoughtful and constructive post about the cognitive dissonance that is separating the two major parties by relaying common ground I believe the vast majority of people share with "maybe you're suffering from the problem this article is talking about" is definitely trolling. 

So, noted. We'll see if he can make a recovery to his former self once the TDS drains out of his system a little bit.